Yahoo, Microsoft talks could end next week: source
By Anupreeta Das
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Talks between Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp are focused on arriving at a value for http://www.yahoo.com/">Yahoo's search business and these discussions are likely to conclude in the "next week or so," a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
The two sides are discussing the terms of a potential deal in which Microsoft buys Yahoo's search business, the source told Reuters.
Yahoo President Sue Decker said earlier on Wednesday that a deal could happen in many forms.
"There are ongoing, engaged conversations," Decker told the Advertising 2.0 conference in New York.
Last month, Microsoft said it renewed talks with Yahoo about an alternative transaction after withdrawing its $47.5 billion offer for the Internet company.
Microsoft's alternative proposal to Yahoo involves buying Yahoo's search business and taking a minority stake in what remains of the company after Yahoo sells off its Asian assets, another source told Reuters earlier.
Executives and advisers from both companies have since continued discussions within this framework, but the focus is on establishing a price for Yahoo's search, the person said.
Microsoft has not renewed its offer to buy all of Yahoo, the source said.
A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment and Yahoo representatives were not immediately available.
No final dollar value has been put on the table for Yahoo's search business because any amount would be tied to how revenue-sharing and other deal terms are structured, said the person, who was not authorized to speak on the record given the confidential nature of negotiations.
Some of the finer points under discussion include what Microsoft would pay Yahoo for search queries and traffic acquisition costs, the source said.
Yahoo may seek guarantees on the rate Microsoft is willing to pay and a specific time commitment for those rates, the person said.
Separately, Yahoo continues to talk with Google Inc and could still end up striking a deal with the search giant if it fails to agree on deal terms with Microsoft, the source said.
Under such a deal, Yahoo would display advertisements from http://www.google.com/">Google alongside its search results.
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